crispy pickled peppers

I harvested a lot of peppers the day before our first frost. (100!!) Bell peppers, cayenne, Tex Mex, Shishito, even some heatless Habanero's called Habanada.



We've been working our way through eating them fresh, but we weren't making much of a dent. Time for pickles! I've made pickled peppers a few times, but never liked the way they end up mushy - not at all crispy like store bought ones. So I tried out a new method - I made fresh pickles. Fresh pickles aren't processed in a boiling water bath. They end up fresh and crispy tasting, but only last a few months in the refrigerator.

I like this recipe a lot, very fresh and simple taste. Very crispy. (I adapted it from Food.com)

Ingredients
1.5 lb peppers (preferably Shishito), cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch strips
5 cups rice vinegar (50/50 rice and white vinegar is OK)
4 cups water
6 garlic cloves, lightly smashed
4 tsp pickling salt
2 Tbs sugar
4 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 onion, cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 small red chiles (optional)

Blanch the peppers in boiling water about 2-3 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, simmer all ingredients except the peppers until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Place the blanched peppers in canning jars and pour the vinegar mixture over them. Seal the jars tightly and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before eating. These pickles will last 1-2 months in the refrigerator.

beets ready to roast

Today's fresh beets, ready to cook my favorite way! Two deep red Merlin's and one pink Chiogga.

I love to roast them in foil. It's so simple and it keeps in all the flavor. Just clean and trim the beets, wrap them in foil and roast at about 400 F til tender, about 45 minutes depending on size of the beets. The skin peels off easy after roasting and they're ready to eat.

With these beets I made a beet salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, a nice vinaigrette, and baby green lettuce. I used this recipe: Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, from AllRecipes.

cilantro soy pork meatballs (with kale or bok choi)

This is SOOO good I had to share the recipe.

I made it earlier in the winter with bok choy from my winter tunnel. Last night I made it again with kale that I sauteed with garlic and sesame seeds. Last night I also used cilantro fresh picked from my tunnel. That cilantro is amazing! I've never grown such flavorful cilanto with big green leaves. It overwintered very well.

The recipe is partly from Shrinking Singles Pork Meatballs with Ginger Soy here. I'm sure the local pork I used from Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds down the road from me also adds flavor. That, plus lot's of cilantro. I modified the recipe a bit and renamed it for the cilantro. Yumm, I LOVE cilantro.

Meatballs
1 lb ground pork (I used breakfast sausage from a local farm)
2 small eggs (or 1 large one), whisked
4 large cloves minced garlic
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 onion, finely chopped
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 Tbs tamari soy sauce
2 Tbs chia seed
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Meatball glaze ¼ cup tamari soy sauce
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 Tbs honey
2 tsp Sriracha sauce

Bok choy
2 large or 5 small bok choy cut into pieces, about 2 inches
2 large clove minced garlic
1/2 tsp crushed hot chili
1 tsp corn starch mixed with ¼ cup water
2 tsp soy sauce

White rice
Peanut oil for sauteing

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix all meatball ingredients. Make into meatballs, about 1.5 inches. Brown in skillet with peanut or similar high heat oil. Place on baking sheet and cook in oven until done, about 20 minutes.

While the meatballs are cooking, make the glaze. Combine all ingredients. Cook briefly in the meatball skillet, scraping up any browned meat remaining in the pan. Pour sauce over the meatballs and cook them another 5 minutes in the oven.

Saute garlic and chili in peanut oil until beginning to brown. Remove from pan. Saute larger stem pieces of bok choy until beginning to brown then add the green pieces and return sauteed garlic to pan. Add corn starch mixed with water and soy sauce and stir til thickened, adding more water as needed. Serve over white rice. Note: Last night I made "Asian Kale" instead of the Bok Choi in the recipe above. I boiled the kale 3 minutes, then sauteed with chopped garlic and sesame seeds. I added a bit of soy sauce when it was done.

herb salts

Back in early November, I made several herb salts. I looked up several recipes and found that these mixes can be either mostly herb with a bit of salt for flavoring or mostly salt with a bit of herb flavoring. At first I used a recipe for the former: mostly herb. That didn't seem the most useful for me, so I added salt.

My mixes ended up with about equal amounts of salt and herbs. I use them whenever I would be normally be adding plain salt to a recipe - and I get some extra flavor. I sprinkle the sage salt on cooked carrots, the thyme salt on broccoli, rosemary salts on scrambled eggs. Very nice.

To make the salts, I combined all ingredients listed below, processed in food processor til smooth, then spread on a sheet of the plastic mesh that came with my dehydrator with a sheet of parchment below and anther plastic mesh below those. I dried at low heat (110*F) in dehydrator for a few hours. When dry, I pushed the mix through the mesh onto the parchment and stored in plastic bags.

As I mentioned above, I added salt to get the flavor I preferred. I ended up with equal amounts of salt and herbs, 1:1 ratio. Many recipes call for a 1:4 ratio of salt to herbs.

Rosemary salt
Fresh rosemary
Lemon zest
Garlic cloves, crushed

Sage salt
Fresh sage leaves
Shallots, chopped
Dried chiles

Thyme salt
Fresh thyme, stems removed
Fresh oregano, stems removed
Lemon zest
Garlic cloves, crushed


I gave several of the salts away as Christmas gifts to my siblings. Now that I've posted this I can send a link and show them how I made them.

bok choi recipes

Again I have LOTS of bok choi. I just love the flavor of it and how nice it looks in the garden. Tonight I am thinking about how to prepare it.

My usual recipe is to sauté minced garlic and ginger, maybe adding a dried chili pepper, in a high heat oil like peanut or sunflower. Then I add the coarsley chopped stems of bok choi and stir fry a few minutes. Next I add coarsley chopped bok choi leaves and stir 'til they wilt. Then I add some corn starch stirred with water, maybe a splash of white whine or vermouth, and a good splash of soy sauce. I stir over heat until the sauce is the right thickness. I like to serve it with fried rice and a roasted meat.

A variation is to use the same preparation, but leave the bok choi whole if they are tiny, or just halve or quarter them. I've also added mushrooms. When my son is home, I add broccoli and he eats that and leaves my husband and me the bok choi.

I'm looking for something new tonight. I'll google and see what Epicurius, Allrecipes and the other usual sites suggest. I'd love to hear ways other gardeners prepare bok choi.

parsley pesto

I think I'll make Parsley Pesto today while it rains outside. I had a nice patch of basil, but it got the new basil downy mildew and never amounted to anything I could use for pesto. I don't know what I'll do next year for basil. Has anyone seen resistant seeds yet? Anyway, I have way too much parsley in the garden, so Parsley Pesto it is!

This recipe looks good: Parsley Pesto at Food and Wine.com. I'll just process the parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt then freeze it. Nuts and cheese can be added when we use it.

I scaled the recipe up.
10-12 cups lightly packed parsley leaves (a large bowlful)
7 cloves garlic
1 Tbs salt
2.5 cups olive oil
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Puree parsley in food processor with garlic and salt adding olive oil gradually in a thin stream to the processor to keep the parsley processing. Add nuts and cheese and process to mix.

Serve over fresh pasta.

I made one batch and we ate a serving fresh off the cutting board (yummy!!!). We froze the rest in baggies. Then we made a second batch without adding garlic, nuts or cheese. Just parsley and olive oil. We could use this for anything! We'll remember to add cheese, garlic and nuts later if we use it for pesto.

red sauce

My tomato bowl filled up again today, so time to make red sauce.

When I make red sauce I peel, seed and chop tomatoes, then simmer about an hour. More detail: I boil a big pan of water and then put a few tomatoes at a time in it for about 1 minute till their skin starts to split. Remove and cool. Then peel skin. I squeeze out as many seeds as I can, then chop the pulp. I put all tomato pulp in a big pan and simmer, stirring occasionally till it is as thick as you want it. Usually about 1 hour of simmering.

My mom has extra tomatoes too this year (what a great year!) and wants to make sauce, but my skinning and seeding steps seem to much work. (They go fast for me since I have a routine.) My brother said to whirl the tomatoes in a blender and then boil them down. She thinks this sounds easier than peeling them all. My brother said the blender is good enough so you don't have pieces of skin. What do you think? My mom will try this sometime this week and see how it goes. I am looking forward to her report.

I have tried before to just core the tomatoes and cook them down. Can't get any easier. I cut them in half, thinking I'd pull out as much skin as I could. Here's a post I did on this: short-cut red sauce. It was a really really delicious sauce with lots of tomato varieties also squash and carrots added, but I ended up taking a lot of time trying to remove the skin and wasn't successful at taking out much of it so I ended up pureeing it.

After reading my old recipe, I think I will add some summer squash and carrots to my red sauce tonight.

mini pies and Meyer Derby

My favorite dough recipe is this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/apple-pie-recipe.html

I like it for apple pie as in the recipe. Today we made a double batch and used half for mini pies with canned fruit and froze the other half. My favorite fillings for mini pies are canned cherry or blueberry. To make mini pies, I roll the dough in a square, slice it in three or four sections, dollop on the fruit, fold over the dough, crimp and bake. I'm looking forward to canning my own fruit soon for these little pies.

For the perfect beverage with these little pies, I like a Meyer Derby. Mix 2 oz Bermuda dark rum, add maple syrup and squeeze fresh Meyers lemons to taste. Shake with ice and then strain into a chilled martini glass. Yum!

Jacob's Cattle bean chili

I bought some beautiful dried beans at the Farmer's Market this past fall. The variety: Jacob's Cattle bean. They are big red, white and maroon beans that I plan to try growing myself next year. I cooked them up, with some of my canned garden tomatoes, into a rich chili today.

Recipe:

1.5 cup dried Jacobs Cattle beans (or any other type of dried bean)

1 onion
5 large cloves garlic
1 shallot
1 sweet red chili pepper, fresh
2 large dried chili peppers, crumbled, with seeds
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp crushed coriander seeds
2 tsp dried thyme
Salt to taste
3 Tbs bacon fat and/or olive oil

1 lb beef sirloin tips
1 qt canned tomatoes

Grated cheese (cheddar or Jack)
Chopped green onions

-------
Rinse beans, then soak in water 2 hours. Transfer beans (and soaking water) to a Dutch oven, adding water if necessary to cover with an inch of water. Place covered Dutch oven in 250*F oven (or on low heat on stove top) and simmer 2 hours.

Chop onion, garlic, shallot and pepper. Add to large skillet with dried chilis, spices and fat/oil. Saute a few minutes to brown the onions, then add this mixture to the simmering beans.

Chop beef into 1/2 inch pieces, brown in large skillet, then add to the simmering beans. Add tomatoes then continue to simmer the chili for 2 hours, adding water if needed.

Serve topped with cheese and green onions. Or, make chili burritos by serving with tortillas, rice, sliced avocado, pickled Hatch jalapenos and sour cream.

summer squash bread

I have a fridge full of summer squashes. Zucchini, yellow and a green patty pan this year. Our Friday night dessert is a warm out-of-the-oven summer squash bread.

To use extra squashes (tonight I added an extra cup of grated squash to the recipe), I added some spelt flour (whole wheat would be the same) to my favorite summer squash bread recipe. And a bit of molasses, too.

Serve with your local rum, ahh.

help - do you have a cucumber recipe???

fried potatoes

I can't do much gardening now, but I'm cooking and eating my produce. Today's recipe is fried potatoes. I found, then lost, a recipe online that worked great.

Standard potatoes: russets, blues, etc.
Sweet potatoes
Canola oil

1- Scrub and cut standard potatoes (whites, yellows and/or blues, leave skin on). Rinse in cold water, then soak 5 or more minutes in cold water.
2- Heat oil to 210-230*F.
3- Dry soaked potatoes on towel, then fry about 10 minutes in preheated oil. Remove to paper towel and let cool.
4- Increase oil temperature to 265*F.
5- Scrub and cut the sweet potatoes (leave skin on).
6- Add all potatoes (sweets and standards to the oil. Fry 5-10 minutes til nicely browned. Add salt and enjoy!

grilled vegetables

This is our dinner the night of a harvest. Everything grilled outside: sweet potatoes, white potatoes, beets, carrots and some greens from my perennial (walking) onion.

To grill, my husband gets a nice hardwood fire going, then puts vegetable slices on and brushes with olive oil and turns them as they cook. He keeps them far enough from the fire so they can cook for about 20 minutes, but close enough so they brown nicely during this time.

leek and potato soup

One of my favorites! I printed out the recipe I posted a few years ago (here's the link) and my son helped by stir it. I haven't harvested my single celeriac yet, but the recipe is great without it.

The leeks are from my local CSA. I grew leeks once long ago and they did well. I should try them again.

kale and squash risotto

I planted a enormous crop of kale this year and a couple weeks ago asked for recipe suggestions. I tried the kale risotto from the Moosewood Cookbook and it was DELICIOUS! Thanks for the recommendation.

I used my last homegrown butternut squash from last year and a few spring onions that I pulled today. (I'm not really sure where the onions came from - probably ones I missed year that over-wintered and grew into large scallions-like onions this spring. They were very pungent and a bit dry, more like garlic or shallots.) And I used a big bunch of kale from my cold frame. As my mom said, I think this cold frame kale is more tender and mild than "outdoor" kale.

Its a very good recipe. The link is here: Moosewood Squash and Kale Risotto

Christmas potatoes

This is a delicious recipe my mother-in-law made for Christmas dinner.

about 4 or 5 large potatoes potatoes, sliced or diced
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
2 Tbs melted butter
toasted onions rings

Mix everything except toasted onion rings. Put in a baking dish. Top with toasted onions rings (or use corn flakes and butter instead). Cook 350*F for 45 minutes.

baked butternut squash and sweet potatoes

Bake 5 sweet potatoes at 400*F til slightly soft (about 15 min).
Peel 2 butternut squashes. Cut into 1 inch cubes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a large casserole dish 30 min at 400*.
Peel sweet potatoes, cube, add to squash and mix. Sprinkle with brown sugar and dot with butter. Bake covered 30-45 min at about 375*.

the best restaurant around

The East Coast Grill! What a fantastic experience to eat here! The best local seafood and fresh vegetable cooked to perfection and then some! Its like heaven!

Of course every time we go there, the parking lot is full. (The scooter solved that problem - we pull up on the sidewalk.) And the usual wait is over an hour, and they don't take reservations. But an awesome bartender makes sure everyone is happy - until the chef makes them even happier.

I always come away with hundreds of ideas for new vegetables to grow and for preparing veggies. We have 2 of Chris Schlessinger's cookbooks, and I just ordered a couple more. "Quick Pickles" and "Grill It"

Today's ideas:
- The quick pickles are a mix of cucumbers, beans, carrots, and onions. I'm going to search for their recipe. Bet its in the cook book by the name...
- I had a super tasty side of greens, sauteed with bacon. I'll look for this recipe for my fall greens for Thanksgiving.
- The Cape Cod oysters fantastic right now. I wonder if I should try a horseradish plant in the garden next year. They are big but I love fresh horseradish.

"my" pumpkin soup recipe

My favorite pumpkin soup recipe is from a little book: Holiday Pumpkins by Georgeanne Brennan and Jennifer Barry. A very cute book with a bunch of nice pumpkiny ideas. But the soup is exceptional. Nice and simple: pumpkin, leeks and ginger. Optional cilantro and cream garnish. I made it for Thanksgiving a while back and served it in the pumpkin shell. I'm planning to do the same again this year.

Not wanting to copy a book recipe onto my blog, I searched online for someone else who has a similar recipe. Here's the exact recipe at trufflesandtrifles.com, but using sour cream instead of creme fraiche. Both neglect to mention that you should puree the soup after cooking the pumpkin.

celeriac recipes

Someone asked a while back what to do with celeriac. I thought I start a recipe list.
Here is a nice post from Winter Green Community Farm. As they describe:

Celeriac is descended from wild celery and has a crisp, clean flavor. It can be used in turkey stuffing instead of regular celery and has a good amount of Vitamin C. Try celeriac raw grated into salads or in any recipe that calls for celery. Celeriac can also be boiled or steamed. Peel, slice, and boil for 5-10 minutes or boil whole for 20-30 minutes. Mash and top with butter (tastes incredible with mashed potatoes!). Celeriac can be peeled, chopped, and added to soup or stew or baked (in its skin, then peeled when cool) at 350 degrees for one hour, alone, or with other vegetables in a root bake. Add celeriac to any stir-fry, a gratin dish, or finely chopped in stuffing. Serve steamed and cubed celeriac tossed with a warm balsamic vinaigrette and parsley.

The link has recipes for Celeriac Risotto, Hearty Celeriac Bisque and Celeriac and Butternut Squash Soup.